All you need to know for tonight's All-Star Game (FOX, 8 ET) (2024)

LOS ANGELES -- The City of Angels is a city of stars. Fans run into them at restaurants, ride by their homes on tour buses and step around their names on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

It’s an appropriate place, then, for the baseball world’s stars to gather on the summer’s biggest stage. On Tuesday night, the 2022 All-Star Game presented by Mastercard brings the Midsummer Classic to iconic Dodger Stadium for the first time in 42 years, and it’s a cast befitting a blockbuster.

In the season Dodger Stadium is celebrating its 60th birthday -- and thanks to recent renovations, looks more beautiful than ever -- the All-Star Game finally returns to L.A. When the ballpark known as “Blue Heaven on Earth” last hosted this event, the luminaries on the rosters included eventual Hall of Famers Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson and Johnny Bench, Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor, George Brett, Alan Trammell, Robin Yount, Jim Rice, Goose Gossage, Gary Carter, Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Dave Winfield, Steve Carlton and Bruce Sutter.

No telling how many future inductees are playing in this particular game, but we can feel pretty darn certain that Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera -- two of the great right-handed hitters of all-time, invited to this event by Commissioner Rob Manfred in salute of their Cooperstown-worthy careers -- will be on the list.

And though the Dodgers’ hosting duties were pushed back two years due to the pandemic, this also turned out to be an appropriate occasion to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s historic debut with the Dodgers. His widow, Rachel, turns 100 on Tuesday.

As the stars prepare to take their stage, here are answers to all of your questions about the 92nd All-Star Game.

How can I watch the game?

FOX’s national broadcast begins at 7 p.m. ET, with game coverage beginning at 8 ET.

The game will also be broadcast in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS and worldwide by partners in 15 languages. FOX Deportes will provide Spanish-language coverage in the United States, while ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide exclusive national radio coverage.

Who are the starting pitchers?

A pair of lefties -- one whose legacy is well-established and one who is just getting started. Dodgers icon Clayton Kershaw will toe the rubber in his home park for the NL, and MLB ERA leader Shane McClanahan of the Rays got the nod for the AL.

Kershaw becomes the 13th pitcher to start an All-Star Game in his home park and the first since the Nationals’ Max Scherzer at Nationals Park in 2018.

“Because we are here in Los Angeles, home of the Dodgers, you toss this around, and Clayton’s name kept coming to the forefront to start this game,” NL manager Brian Snitker said. “His reputation and what he’s meant to the game of baseball and the Los Angeles Dodgers, I think it’s just perfect that he start this game for us.”

AL manager Dusty Baker indicated that two-way star Shohei Ohtani was his first choice to start the game (for what would have been the second straight year) but that Ohtani deferred.

What are the starting lineups?

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Mike Trout of the Angels and Jose Altuve of the Astros were replaced in the starting lineup due to injury by Buxton and Giménez, respectively.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Bryce Harper of the Phillies and Jazz Chisholm Jr. of the Marlins were replaced in the starting lineup due to injury by William Contreras and McNeil, respectively.

Who are the position player reserves?

*denotes a player who is inactive due to injury or has chosen not to play

+Named as a replacement

^Legacy selection

AL

NL

Which pitchers were selected?

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Starting pitchers

Relievers

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Starting pitchers

Relievers

Does the All-Star Game still decide home-field advantage in the World Series?

Nope. As part of the collective bargaining agreement negotiated before the 2017 season, that wrinkle was removed. The game is a true exhibition, and home-field advantage in the Fall Classic is now given to the pennant winner with the better regular-season record.

What if there is a tie after nine innings?

Get ready for… another Home Run Derby!

Rather than extra innings, a tie game would be settled with each manager selecting three players (and one alternate, in the event of an injury) on his roster who have agreed to participate in the All-Star Tiebreaker, as well as three coaches to throw batting practice. Play will briefly be paused to allow the groundscrew to reconfigure the field. Each player who participates will get three swings to hit as many home runs as possible. Each player can take an unlimited number of pitches without it counting against their swing total.

Players on each team may hit in any order, with the two teams alternating. The visiting team (AL) will hit first and the home team (NL) second. Once all six participants have completed their swings, the team with the most total home runs shall be declared the winner of the All-Star Game. In the event of a tie, each manager shall select one of the participating players to take three swings to break the tie. This head-to-head format will continue until the tie is broken. The manager is permitted to select a different batter to participate in subsequent head-to-head rounds, as long as he was one of the original three participants (or the alternate in the event of an injury).

If all of this indeed comes to pass, the game in the record books would be considered a tie with a notation that one league defeated the other in a home run swing-off, and there would be no winning or losing pitcher. Additionally, the All-Star Game MVP Award would be based on what happened in the nine-inning game.

Are there any other changes for 2022?

Last year marked the first time ever that the two teams wore an All-Star Game-specific uniform, rather than each player wearing his particular team’s uniform. This year, the All-Stars return to their individual team uniforms, but with a Hollywood twist. The home whites and road grays (a darker gray than the typical road gray) feature team logos emblazoned in gold, a la an Oscar. The hats are all black with gold logos.

How many times have the Dodgers hosted the All-Star Game?

This is the fourth time the Dodgers have hosted, the third time in Los Angeles and the second time at Dodger Stadium. The Brooklyn Dodgers hosted the 1949 game at Ebbets Field. The Los Angeles Dodgers hosted one of two 1959 All-Star Games at their temporary home in Memorial Coliseum. And Dodger Stadium hosted its only previous All-Star Game on July 9, 1980.

How can fans get involved in the game?

Fans will once again have the opportunity to participate in the official voting for the Ted Williams All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet. During the game, fans can vote exclusively at MLB.com and the 30 Club sites -- online or via their mobile devices -- with the 2022 All-Star Game MLB.com MVP Vote, and their collective voice will represent 20 percent of the official vote determining this year’s recipient of what was originally named the Arch Ward Memorial Award.

Which league has the all-time edge in the All-Star Game?

The AL has the slight edge all-time -- 46 wins and 43 losses, with two ties. The scores of those 90 games add up to 378 runs for the AL and 372 for the NL, so the Midsummer Classic has been pretty closely contested in the big picture.

In more recent history, though, this matchup has been heavily skewed toward the AL, which has lost just six times going back to 1988, three times going back to 1997 and is undefeated going back to 2013.

What are some other fun facts to know?

• An NL venue has hosted six of the last seven All-Star Games, going back to the 2015 game in Cincinnati. The lone exception in that span is Cleveland’s Progressive Field in 2019. Next year’s game will return to an AL venue in Seattle’s T-Mobile Park.

• This is the fourth consecutive All-Star Game with at least 30 players making their debut on an All-Star roster. That number has been reached in eight of the last nine and 10 of the last 12 installments of the Midsummer Classic.

• Willson and William Contreras are the first brothers to appear in the same All-Star Game since Aaron and Bret Boone in 2003, and the first brothers on the same team in the Midsummer Classic since the Alomar brothers -- Roberto and Sandy Jr. -- in 1998. They are also the first pair of brothers to start an All-Star Game since the Alomars in 1992.

• If the 42-year-old Pujols gets in the game, he will be the seventh player to make an All-Star Game plate appearance at age 42 or older, joining 2007 Barry Bonds, 1991 Carlton Fisk, 1985 Pete Rose, 1982-83 Carl Yastrzemski, 1973 Willie Mays and 1963 Stan Musial.